Guatemala

In Guatemala, E-Tech’s Ann Maest conducted an analysis for local communities and Oxfam America of predicted and actual water quality at the Marlin Mine. E-Tech evaluated all available water quality data (Goldcorp, two national agencies, an independent monitoring program funded largely by Goldcorp, and an opposing community monitoring program). In August 2010, E-Tech’s Dick Kamp and Ann Maest presented their findings and recommendations to government regulators, the public, the Guatemalan Congress, (Transparency Commission), and communities near the mine. Subsequently, E-Tech made its findings available to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to assist in resolution of submitted disputes.

Projects

Goldcorp Marlin Mine

March 30, 2011: Letter from Members of Congress

Read the letter from members of U.S. Congress to President Alvaro Colom of Guatemala. It cites research done by E-tech when asking for suspension of Marlin Mine.

August 11, 2010: Evaluation of Predicted and Actual Water Quality Conditions at the Marlin Mine, Guatemala (Spanish summary and links to Spanish report, executive summary, and report are below)

During 2009-10, E-Tech completed an analysis for Oxfam America of predicted (in environmental impact assessments submitted to the World Bank) and actual water quality at the Goldcorp Marlin mine in the San Marcos highlands region of Guatemala. In an unusual twist, we took all data from the company, two federal agencies, an independent monitoring program funded largely by Goldcorp, and an opposing community monitoring program. We remained in very close communication with Goldcorp throughout the process of comparing the trends in monitoring from all sources. We found some commonalities in terms of potential migration of mining contaminants to the south of the property and evaluated the type of monitoring and analyses critical to oversight of the mine. In August 2010, E-Tech presented our findings and recommendations to government regulators, the public, the Congressional Transparency Commission, local residents in the communities near the mine, and visited the mine itself. Subsequently we made our findings available to assist in resolution of disputes submitted to the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States in Washington, DC.

E-Tech intervention in Guatemala has centered around preocupations around mining and specifically, a relatively new mine, the Goldcorp Marlin Gold Mine. Oxfam America requested E-Tech to investigate predicted water quality impacts for the Marlin Mine in documents that led to International Finance Corporation (IFC) support and to compare the predicted water quality with actual water quality impacts. We conducted an in-depth analysis of data provided by Goldcorp, mining opponents, 2 mining ministries, and an "independent" monitoring project funded largely by the mine.

The study assesses the reliability of water quality predictions made in the mine's environmental impact study (EIA&S) , which was used by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) when it decided to fund the mine. The E-Tech study compared these predictions against operational conditions using publicly available data collected by Goldcorp, Guatemalan agencies, and Guatemalan non- profit organizations. We anticipate conducting similar studies of three other mines.

Although no moderate or serious negative environmental effects were predicted before mining began, E-Tech findings suggest that some important predictions underestimated the environmental effects of the mine.